UNU-IAS Hosts GGS Interim Report Meeting

On 11 October 2016, UNU-IAS hosted an interim report meeting for the Grant for Global Sustainability (GGS), consisting of a reporting session and an examination.
The Grant for Global Sustainability (GGS) is an initiative supporting research, launched in 2015 with support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT). GGS supports the work of two educational and research institutes in Japan, one for each of the thematic areas covered by the project (“Inclusive Development” and “Earth Science”), which aim to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Concerning the two projects in progress at present, interim reports were presented by Hiroshima University and Kyoto University. Upon examining the reports, the review board granted both projects a further year for implementation.
Progress reports are available and can be viewed by clicking on the title of the projects.
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Theme 1: Study for the Achievement of Inclusive Development
Center for the Study of International Cooperation in Education, Hiroshima UniversityDevelopment of the Inclusive Education System Model for Learning Improvement in Developing Countries
Project summary and brief report:
This project is working to improve the educational system in Africa and Asia, which is encapsulated in Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project focuses on the multi-faceted and interrelated nature of educational inequality that is particular to each locality of Asian and African countries, and aims at developing a model of an inclusive education system for learning improvement in which stakeholders participate. In 2015, research regarding visualizing structural reality of multi-faceted and interrelated educational inequalities, and presenting distinctive practices of learning improvements, were planned for the first year of implementation of the project. In the second year (2016), development of the inclusive education system model is being undertaken, while exploring effective educational management for the schools which have different types of problems and challenges.
Project sites:
Africa – Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi
Asia – Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India
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Theme 2: Solutions to Challenges the Earth System Faces
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto UniversityEnhancement of Urban Disaster Resilience through Activities of Local Participatory Platform
Project summary and brief report:
The objective of the project is to enhance resilience of cities against natural disasters through capacity building of the stakeholders in cities. It is expected through these activities that all stakeholders will be able to better understand the risks and probable damage caused by natural disasters as their own problems to be tackled, and will be motivated or be willing to take appropriate actions for disaster reduction by themselves.
In 2015, the first year of implementation of the project, an international kick-off conference was held to arrange a Memorandum of Understanding with local partners. The two cities (project sites) established a local platform where all stakeholders are able to work and discuss together to understand and assess the disaster risk of the city, which includes estimating probable damage, promoting policies, and developing an action plan. In 2016, a total of six workshops and risk assessments were organized to create an action plan based on estimation of probable damage and type of damage. Moreover, five cooperative research studies are being carried out to support model development. This research is as follows:
(1) urban seismic risk assessment, (2) practical structural performance diagnosis methods, (3) disaster education and action plan, (4) risk perception and housing safety, and (5) social fairness of policies and action plans.
Project sites:
Nepal – Kathmandu
Myanmar – Yangon